KUWAIT CITY, Feb 12: The Legal and Legislative Committee in the Parliament on Tuesday amended the period of pre-trial detention in +the Public Prosecution from 10 days to 21 days and four days in the police station instead of 48 hours.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Committee member MP Khalid Al-Shatti disclosed the representatives of the Interior Ministry and the Public Prosecution expressed their views on the proposed amendment, after which the panel approved it and then asked the government to submit a written statement in this regard. He was quick to add though that he is against the amendment as he considers it suppression of freedom, but he respects the points of view of the committee and the government.
Meanwhile, members of the Future Bloc, in a press conference Tuesday, formally announced the formation of the new bloc and explained its objectives and future agendas. The bloc elected MP Saleh Ashour as coordinator and Yakoub Al-Sanei as spokesperson. It consists of seven members — Khalil Al-Saleh, Nawaf Al-Fuzai, Hisham Al-Baghli, Abdullah Al-Tameemi, Ahmed Al-Mulaifi, Yakoub Al-Sanei and Saleh Ashour.

Al-Sanei disclosed the bloc’s objectives include working in accordance with the fundamentals of parliamentary work, strengthen the constitutional bases, and focus on the future, as well as the legislative and oversight aspects. He said the bloc believes in the significance of maintaining national unity and detests sectarian and tribal sentiments. He added a special bylaw has been put in place to deal with grilling requests and the issue of loans interests to avoid differences on some issues. He stressed that the bloc’s members have various fields of specialization; hence, they will enrich the Parliament, especially since they are keen on working in the interest of the public.

Al-Ashour pointed out the bloc was formed at a time when the nation needs political and parliamentary groups to direct political work towards the right path, to ensure outstanding performance for the legislature and to stabilize the country. He hopes the next stage will be for achievements as the bloc is willing to cooperate with the Parliament to better serve the nation.

Al-Mulaifi explained the rationale behind the name of the bloc. He said, “It is called the ‘Future Bloc’ because some people want to push us back to the past and roam around a closed circle. Yes, we should not forget the past but we must not ignore the future”. He added they will work towards the realization of development goals to meet the needs of the citizens.

Priorities
According to Al-Mulaifi, the bloc has set its priorities for the next stage and some of its members, who have announced their plan to present grilling requests against certain ministers, will present their interpellations later to deal with them as per its bylaw. He went on to say that this bloc is different from political organizations or parties, indicating that “it is just natural to disagree on a certain idea, but we agree on the importance of a coordinated vision for parliamentary work”.

In another development, the Health and Social Affairs Committee postponed discussions on the proposal of the government to amend the labor force public authority bill for further study.

Committee Rapporteur MP Hani Shams said the panel has rejected the recommendation of the government to put the recruitment of foreign workers under the sole jurisdiction of the authority, instead of the employers. He said the committee will meet the business owners and private sector representatives on Sunday to tackle the issue.

Meanwhile, MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan confirmed that he will push through with his grilling against Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah. “It doesn’t matter if I am alone because those with principles usually stand firm by their decision even if they do it on their own. We are afraid of the possibility that information on Kuwait’s security is now in Tel Aviv,” he said.

Al-Duwaisan admitted he is not satisfied with the minister’s response to his question on the Canadian security company that is originally Israeli. “When it comes to Kuwait’s security, we should all take a stand. Do you know who Eitan Livneh is? He is the Director of the Israeli company — Magal Security Systems — tasked to install the security equipment in the North and South borders. It is the same company which built the Israeli segregation wall and dispersed the Palestinians. The equipment will be installed facing Saudi Arabia, so the Iraqis were reassured they are not the concerned party,” he alleged.